AIFB urges Governemnt to give classical language status to Bengali

New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) today urged the UPA Government to grant classical language status to Bengali, which is one of the richest languages in India.

The AIFB in a press statement issued here, said the UPA Government had declared Tamil as classical language in 2004 and classic language also accorded to Kannada and Telugu recently.

Bengali is the only Indian language which brought Nobel Prize for literature to India and as per historic records, Bengali was a literary language in the eighth century, the release added.

The Government should consider its rich heritage, influence and culture and hence declare the language as classical, the statement said.

The Centre should provide more funds for research and teaching of Bengali language, the statement added.

UNI BKS ARB KN/RAI1828